Wildfires ravage Spain, France and Italy, killing three firefighters

Wildfires raged on Wednesday in Sicily, southwestern France and central Spain, claiming the lives of three firefighters and prompting thousands of evacuations. Temperatures topped 40C and gusts of hot wind fanned the flames on the southern Italian island, where wildfires have been raging for several days. Around 6,000 firefighters, forest guards and civil protection officials were deployed to battle the flames with the help of water-bombing aircraft, regional head Renato Schifani said, adding that 50 fires were still burning. Scientists agree that climate change caused by humans burning fossil fuels is making extreme weather events such as fires and heatwaves more likely and more severe. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said a firefighter died after falling ill while battling the flames. A spokesperson for the Italian Civil Protection Agency told AFP the situation in Sicily was "serious" and that the fires were "being fuelled by very high temperatures and very dry soil". To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, yo...